Such Mother, Such Daughter
by Irish-coffee
Summary: "Do you realize that if you work at the crime lab, you'll be asked to open the mail and carry cups of coffee around ?" When Ellie decides she wants to work at the lab during the summer, is it a really good idea ? Or will she get more than she bargained for? Post-finale fic. Jo and Ellie centered (with the team). Rated T, may evolve for violence.
1. Prologue

**Hi everyone ! I've been thinking about this story for a few weeks and I've got plenty of ideas to write an awful lot of chapters ;) Some of you may know me already. I'm a huge fan of Jo, and here, I wanted to explore the relationship there is between her and Ellie. I mean... Jo's a really great mother, and the fact that Ellie is adopted is inspiring, and I hope that you want to know more about them as much as I do :)  
So here's the plot : Ellie is about to spend her last summer break as an highschool girl working with the CSI unit. However, things will get rather dangerous for her and Jo... Want to know why ? :) Then read on my friend ;D  
AND PLEAAAASE REVIEW ! You can't imagine how inspiring it is to read what you think ! And more : Ireally love to integrate my reader's ideas when I write :) As a wink ;)  
ENJOY ! **

Ellie was waiting for Charlie to ask her for a dance. She had been imagining that moment for weeks. She had dreamed of that dance- she wanted him to hold her tight so that she could breathe his scent. He was the captain of her soccer team, and had always been kind to her even on her first day at school. He didn't look bad either. He was a few inches taller thanher, he was strong, and his blue eyes were to die for.  
She had bought a nice dress for the prom ball. Her mother had helped her choose the perfect one- it was a dark blue dress, that fell just under her knees. It was in some kind of silk, with little details embroidered in gold here and there, on the corset. She looked like an actress promoting a new film. She looked at herself in one of the mirrors of the ball room. She had just turned eighteen, and her body was that of a fully grown-up woman. She was also more mature than the others. Maybe that was because she had seen death in that subway a few years before. That was what her mother thought anyway.  
She turned around when someone lightly touched her shoulder. It was Charlie.  
"D'you want a drink ?"  
She nodded and followed him to the bar. She wished she was able to order whiskey. Her mother had told her that men were always impressed to see a nice girl drink a strong beverage. That was certainly a southern tip for single girls. However, it was forbidden to bring alcohol to the ball, so Ellie ordered cherry syrup, and Charlie asked for coke.

"Where are you going next year ?"  
Ellie was slightly disappointed by his question as she had expected him to ask her to dance with him. But she felt pleased to see he was interested in her.

"NYU." She answered. She was proud to say that she was eventually going to college. Her brother had told her all about it, and it sounded like heaven on Earth, despite what Jo had been telling her about the homework and all...  
"Hey ! Just like me !"  
The young girl was about to feign being surprise- she already knew they had been accepted in the same college- when a tall pale blond girl in a red dress interrupted them.  
"Hi Charlie !" She shrilled.  
Ellie rolled her eyes. Cynthia was her rival in everything. They were struggling to be the top of the class and they both wanted Charlie as their boyfriend. Well, actually, Cynthia was not too much into Charlie, really, she was just the center of the world. She was nice to everyone and all the boys in the class were attracted to her. They all said she had something of a French girl. Ellie didn't know why. Besides her name, Duchamp, she didn't see anything 'French' in her. But she knew something- a French name meant nothing. Or maybe it did after all, as Cynthia and Ellie's mother both had one and were both 'sexy'. Ellie envied them. They seemed to have their way with boys.

"Hi Cynthia ! I heard you're going to work in the general hospital this summer, how fascinating !" Charlie said, smiling.  
Ellie was taken aback. He looked more interested with the fact that Cynthia was about to play the apprentice nurse for two months than with the fact that they were both going to stay together in NYU !  
"Yeah, it's nothing really. Answering the phone, helping the nurses with changing bandages, and all that kind of stuff. And you Ellie ? Have you found a summer job ?" The blond girl sounded bitchy, and that made Ellie go mad. She had to come up with something to impress Charlie. She didn't have to think much.

"As a matter of fact, yes. I wasn't supposed to talk about it, but I'm going to work for the head of the crime lab." She said triumphantly. Charlie's charming smile showed up on his face.

"Isn't it where your mother works ?" He asked.  
"Catching killers isn't a job. It's more like a way of life, you know ?" Ellie said carelessly.

Charlie nodded.  
"Now that's interesting ! Care to tell me more about it while we dance ?" He said, extending his hand towards her.  
Ellie was over the moon. She knew she was going to regret lying to him, but for the time being, she was satisfied with seeing Cynthia's face crumple up with surprise and jealousy.

**Later that night**

"So how was your night ?"  
Ellie jumped when she heard her mother's voice. She should have known that Jo was still up waiting for her to come back from the party, but she was so ecstatic that she had forgotten about her curfew. She cringed with embarrassment and hoped that her mum wasn't going to ground her.

She took off her jacket and stepped into the living room where Jo was lying on the sofa, a book in her lap. She didn't look that angry, but that could mean anything.  
"I'm sorry I'm late, my phone was out and I didn't have a watch."  
Jo's face lit up and she smiled fondly, beckoning her to take a sit on her legs. Ellie sat down, careful not to crush her mother too much.  
"It's not even one. That's okay. You know kiddo, I didn't come home from my prom ball before seven. Your granddad was furious when I came through the kitchen door. He had not slept at all, and he was about to call the sheriff after breakfast. He grounded me for seven months. If I'm not mistaken, that's a month for each hour I was late."  
Ellie started and laughed.  
"Really ?! Ma, I didn't know you were such a bad-ass !" She had never thought of her that way. She was that southern, charming woman, always sweet and firm. She was a great motherly figure.

Jo smiled hearing Ellie's point. Yeah, she may have been a bit of a 'bad-ass' in her times.  
"Anyway, you eluding my question. How did it go ? Did you dance with Charlie ?" She asked with a wink to which Ellie answered with a knowing smile.  
"You bet !"

Jo flashed her a victorious smile.  
"That's my girl !" She said with her southern twang.

They high-fived and Ellie started telling her more about it, precipitately.  
"That bitch Cynthia was there too. She completely interrupted us whereas we were talking about college and began talking about her summer job, cos she's gonna work as an assistant nurse. I knew I had to say something to get Charlie's attention back so I told him I was gonna work with you during summer break. He found it fascinating and asked me to dance with him. God Ma that was great ! He is such a great guy !"  
She stopped, sensing that her mother was baffled. And when she put her hands on her shoulders, she could even see that she was bemused.  
"Slow down there, young lady. Did I hear you talk about the crime lab ?"  
Ellie tucked a lock of her long hair behind her ear. She was embarrassed and didn't know what to do. She already regretted lying, but she had had a good time dancing with Charlie.

"Hum yeah. It was on the spur of the moment, I was desperate to get his attention."  
Jo looked at her daughter with an exasperated smile. Ellie knew she did not approve of desperate moves. She was the most tactful and rational woman on Earth. Of course, she could be spontaneous sometimes, but you had to get her to trust you before she confided in you. The silence that was drawing on between them was full of reproach, and Ellie didn't stand it long.  
"Come on Ma ! That's not the end of the world. That's not a bad idea after all ! We need money to pay for the tuition fee, and I don't want to spend the summer at grandma's. Wouldn't it be great if I worked with you for a few weeks?"  
Jo sighed. She knew Ellie wanted to find a summer job in New York, but she wasn't keen on her being exploited in a restaurant or as a baby-sitter coming late every night, and it was out of the question to let her work in a bar. She guessed that having her around at the lab could be a kind of solution.  
Ellie sensed her hesitation.  
"You know I want to study sciences. I'm quite good at it, and I could learn more with your team than in class. I'm bored with theory, I could use some training. I'll be discreet and I won't bother you. Please Ma !"  
Jo smiled at last. Her daughter had a gift when it came to arguing, and she could remember being the same when she was her age.  
"Do you realize that if you work at the crime lab, you'll be asked to open the mail and carry cups of coffee around ?"  
Ellie looked at her with puppy eyes. Of course she wouldn't catch bad guys or carry on DNA analyzes, but she really wanted to be part of the team. This was going to be an important summer. Mac was getting married to Christine, and deep inside her, Ellie felt sorry for her mother. She had seen her heart break when she had learned the news. Ever since their first day in New York, she had seen her mother gradually fall for this man and she wanted to be by her side when Mac was going to commit himself to his fiancée. She only hoped Jo didn't feel it- she hated it when people were pitying her.

"I will tidy your desk if you want me to !" She pleaded.  
That made Jo burst out laughing. Ellie really had her way with her, and she knew her soft spots. She threw herself on her to tickle her and they giggled.  
"I could ask Mac to take you on, but I can't promise he will listen to me."  
Ellie threw her arms around her mom and almost strangled her.  
"Thank you ! You're the best Ma in the world !" She cried.  
Jo kissed the top of her head.  
"Now, don't overdo it sweetie. Time to go to bed.".

**So ? What do you think ?** :)


	2. Baby steps

**Hi y'all ! :) A big thanks to the few readers who left a comment on the first chapter :) It keeps me writing ! **  
**This second chapter is a bit slow, I really want to ground the story. There will definitely be some action coming in the next chapters ;) **

It was a big day for Ellie. She was going to be interviewed by Mac and she was determined to be accepted for a two months internship at the crime lab. She was quite sure she would be able to help the techs and she was looking forward to proving her mother that she wasn't a child anymore. And after all, it was the opportunity of a life-time ! Admitting she did a good job as an assistant, she might be able to take after her mother in ten years time !  
She glanced at Jo, she looked very tensed. She was gripping the steering wheel as if her life was depending on it. Couldn't she drive faster ? The detective didn't seem to be in a good mood to chat, but to Ellie's surprise, she broke the silence.  
'You sure you wanna do that ?' She asked. When Ellie rolled the eyes, she explained herself.  
'I mean, Mac can be really unsettling sometimes.'

Ellie gasped, sensing the double-entendre. Did her mother even know what she said sometimes?  
'Mom ! I'll be fine.'  
The traffic light turned green and a car honked behind them.  
'Moron ! I'm a southern girl, take it slow !' Jo swore while turning left, heading to the coffee shop.

'Can't you wait till we get to the lab to have some coffee ?' Ellie asked, glancing at her watch.  
It was not even nine yet, but she didn't want to lose time. She wanted to try on one of those white lab coats and get to work.  
Jo's eyes narrowed while looking at her daughter and she focused to park the car in the tiny space left between two occupied spots.  
'We're gonna do this my way, kiddo. And this is your first lesson. If you want good coffee, buy it. Otherwise, stick to green tea.' She said before she got out of the car.

When they at last stepped into the elevator, Jo and Ellie were ten minutes late. Ellie knew Jo had done it on purpose in a last attempt to make her give up on what she thought of as a crazy idea. Or maybe it wasn't the last attempt after all, Ellie realized when she caught her mother staring at her with a blank expression glued on her face.  
'What is it ?'

Jo stopped staring and and focused her gaze back on the screen showing the progression of the elevator.  
'Nothin' '. She said, obviously hinting at something that was not 'nothing'.  
'Mom...'  
'Okay ! I was just wondering what you'd answer if Mac asked you what was the chemical reaction produced by mixin' glyceryl stearate and calcium hydroxide.' She said carelessly.  
Ellie sighed, slightly exasperated by her mother's stubbornness.  
'Isn't that the composition of your hand cream ?'  
'Hey !' Jo looked surprised. 'I hope you had a warrant to search through my lotions !'

The elevator stopped and Ellie hastened to get out of it. She looked around and her mother pointed to Mac's office, the closest to them. She quickly made her way between a few lab techs to go and knock on the door.

Mac looked quite focused on a file he was reading, and Ellie suddenly realized that a big part of her mom's work was about paperwork. For everything you did, you had to sign papers, fill reports, write notes for the team and account for everything you did or didn't do. She would certainly learn more about all those boring stuff than about true sciences. She knocked nevertheless, and Mac's head turned towards her. When he saw the two Danvilles, he smiled and beckoned Ellie inside of the office. Ellie gazed at her mother for approval. She hated this reaction she had every time she didn't feel confident, but Jo's maternal and soothing smile did wonders. She winked at her, and the young girl eventually found the guts to enter the room, seeing Jo flash a look at Mac, the kind of look that meant 'Nothing too dangerous, she's my baby'. Ellie rolled her eyes and smiled at Mac.  
"Hello Mac !"  
"Hi Ellie. Take a sit."  
She did as she was told, and took a file out of her handbag. She had chosen this leather handbag for her eighteenth birthday. It was a ritual in the Danville family. When a daughter reached her eighteenth birthday, she was offered her first handbag, the first womanly one at least. She had fallen in love with this one. It was a brown satchel with flowers carved in it, covered with colorful thin pieces of fabrics. It had been the first time Jo and Ellie had both loved the same thing at first sight. They had always fought over what Ellie could and couldn't wear at school or when she was out with her friends. Ellie could even remember that one time Jo had said no to a short blue tank top that showed her navel. The young girl had looked daggers at her mother and had said something like 'Look at you Mom ! You wear this kind of things too !'. Jo's face had softened, and she had taken her to an ice cream truck. She had told her about her childhood, how she had discovered her body, and how she had regretted discovering too much, too early with a boy whom she had not been in love with...  
Ellie winced. A woman's life was not that easy. But she couldn't wait to be and feel one.  
She handed her file to Mac.  
"My resume."  
She had never really worked before. She had done some baby-sitting for Lucy or the neighbor's children, but she had brought her report card and recommendations from her science teacher. She shifted in her seat while Mac was quickly going through the pages. After a few minutes, he looked back at her and a warm smile appeared on his face.  
"You mother did not boast about you as much as she could have."

That was certainly an understatement. Jo didn't hesitate to congratulate her kids when they had good results and when she was proud of them. However, she never did it too much. She wanted them to work harder and do better, not as if they were part of a contest, more as if it was only a game. And it was working. Ellie had lots of fun in school.  
"Yeah, that's because I suck at maths. But Mom told me Adam could help me with that."  
Mac raised an eyebrow. She had only a B in maths, and she didn't think it could equal her A+ in sciences and English, and her A in Geography and French. It wasn't perfect, she wasn't perfectly satisfied. Yet, she was certain that she would do great in college. And she was going to do it thanks to her internship.  
"From what I see, you could be useful here."

Ellie straightened up, proud of being talked to as an adult.  
"Yeah I know I'm gonna be used as a clerk, and I don't mind. I just wanna learn practical things. I'm bored with theory. I wanna see the team work."

When Mac smiled again, leaning back into his armchair, Ellie knew she was indeed going to be taken on as a temporary member of the team.

"I know what you mean. I was the same when I was your age. I couldn't stand talking about things and not experimenting."  
All this was fine, but she was having problems with the 'when I was your age' kind of speech. Her mother always did that. And she herself did that with Lucy when she baby-sited her. It always sounded like reproaches and lessons. 'When I was your age, I couldn't go out after dusk', 'when I was your age, we didn't have mobile phones and that was fine because I wrote letters to my crush.', 'Be glad, when I was your age, we didn't have that chance'. That was boring. She wanted some action.

"We'll have to fill some forms and sign them, but I should show you 'round and make sure you fit in first. What do you think ?"  
Ellie jumped to her feet, bubbling with enthusiasm. She felt so nervous she could use a walk through the lab before doing the paperwork with Mac and her mother. She already knew most of the corridors, and she had spent quite some time with the team to celebrate birthdays and raises, but seeing them all at work was rather new and odd. At least that's what she thought when she saw Adam deep in work in his lab, his earphones on, with his chin on his fist, frowning.  
"Adam !" Mac called from the threshold.  
The young tech didn't respond. Obviously, he couldn't hear his boss' voice through the loud music coming out from his earphones. Mac sighed, slightly exasperated by Adam's childish behavior. Ellie shrugged and smiled to him, touching his arm lightly to say she could handle this. She stepped into the lab and tip-toed to Adam. When she reached his armchair, she took one of his earphones out of his ear, making him start.  
"Wow boss ! Yeah I'm listening !" Adam stammered before he could even see Ellie from the corner of an eye.

Mac entered the lab.  
"Adam, Adam... I'm only here to introduce you to your new colleague." He said with a smile.  
Ellie saw Adam's shocked expression settle into a happy smile.  
"Ellie Danville. We met before, right ?" He asked with a ridiculous imitation of a southern twang and accent that made Ellie wince. The tech frowned and shifted in his seat.  
"I'm still not good at this, am I ?"  
Ellie didn't answer, she shook her head and chuckled. She really liked Adam. Each time she had seen him, he had given her great albums from quality bands, and always taught her cool things like how to control her mother's computer from her laptop, how to create an algorithm to be able to program an easy game, or things like that. It was like having a big brother. Don't get me wrong, Ellie already had Tyler, but he was not as cool as Adam. And she didn't see him often. She had always thought that he considered her as a parasite that had stolen his mother's attention and love. Deep down, she knew he loved her, of course, but she couldn't take the idea out of her mind- He was not his real brother, and he had not chosen her to be his little sister.

"Adam, I'd like you to supervise Ellie."  
Mac's voice interrupted Ellie's thought. And she looked at the two men in turn. Mac looked serious. Yet, Adam was clearly shocked. He pointed at himself and stammered.  
"M, m, me ?! You mean, Adam Ross ?!"  
Mac nodded.  
"I discussed it with Jo. She can't be her own daughter's supervisor, and I can't take care of her myself, I won't take her on any crime scene and I can't leave her alone. Plus, I'll be absent for two weeks. That's off the records, of course, I'm her boss. I just want to make sure someone's going to keep an eye on her and show her what we do here." He explained.  
Adam raised an eyebrow.  
"Am I a kind of baby-sitter ? Cos I'd better tell you now that I suck at that !"  
Ellie sighed. Here she was, listening to Adam and Mac talking about her as if she was nowhere near them.

"Ellie's no baby. She wants to make the most of this job learning things and being useful, only make sure she can do that okay ?" Mac asked, clearly annoyed by Adam's insubordination.  
"Yeah, I guess I can do that. How long are you staying ?" Adam asked, this time looking directly at her.

Ellie straightened up and smiled. It was time to counter her mother's decisions. With a confident voice, she said :

"Two months.".  
Mac frowned.  
"I thought you were going to spend only a month here?"  
Ellie shrugged.  
"Is it a problem if I stay longer?" She asked, suddenly aware that Mac could refuse her the second month.  
"I guess that's no big deal. We're usually under-staffed in August, you could certainly give us a hand. We should go to your mother's office to do the paperwork. After that, we'll give you a lab coat and leave you with Adam."  
Ellie nodded. She wanted to dance and jump around to show how happy she was to be part of the team. The only problem that remained was to convince her mom to let her work there for a few weeks more than she had first intended.

**As usual, PLEASE, let me know what you think guys ! :)**


	3. First day at school

**Here is the third chapter :) Thanks for the reviews, I enjoy reading what you think about this story :) Please go on! It's really motivating! **  
**Enjoy! **

"Two months?!" Jo chocked, reading the paper Mac had handed her over her rather messy desk.  
Ellie did her best not to draw her mother's attention to her- better not tease the dragon when it was pissed off. Her gaze wandered over the wall behind Jo. There were a few pictures on it. One was a view of the village she was born in. The second one was a nearly two year-old picture of the whole team. Jo was literally beaming on it. She had Mac's arm around her shoulders in what Ellie saw as a protective gesture, and she was circling his waist, clearly showing the same kind of feelings.  
The whole team looked like one happy family, and to Ellie, it seemed clear that judging by the photo only, Jo and Mac were the parents. They seemed to be so attached to each other that she wondered how the hell her mother could still be single while Mac was planning on marrying Christine. Then, the picture on the left was familiar to Ellie. It had been taken on their first day in New-York by a lesbian couple in their mid thirties who had smiled at Jo when she had asked them if they could take a photo of her with her children in front of the Statue of Liberty. The young girl could remember that moment clearly as it had been the first time she had ever seen a gay couple holding hands in the street. It had felt so new and thrilling to her! And there they were, Jo was behind Tyler and Ellie, holding them both in her arms with a huge grin on her face. On the other hand, Ellie looked sick and about to throw up. She had indeed been sick at the time. Homesick. She had missed her friends and her home and everything she had left behind in Virginia. She had been through a hard time, but thanks to Jo's stubbornness and enthusiasm, she had managed to find her feet and fit in, not without tears and shouts and even punches once in a while. Back to that first day, she had wanted to kill her mother each time she had sing-sung that famous Sinatra's song, which she had done while packing, unpacking, and all along the time they had taken to get used to the city life.  
How was it again ? Oh yeah- 'Start spreading the news, I'm coming today. I wanna be a part of it, New York, New York !'  
"Ellie ?"  
The young girl looked at Jo, who was obviously trying to communicate. She didn't look crossed anymore, but Ellie knew that their discussion was not over yet. She had put on her best motherly face, the one she found quite suitable to reason a toddler, but silly for a serious talk with a teenage girl.  
"Mom, it's okay, that way, you won't have to worry about me being late at night and all."  
Jo grunted.  
"Yeah, I'll only have to worry about your safety for two months." She answered with her best ironic tone.  
Ellie wanted to retort that the lab was the safest place in town anyway, but she knew it wasn't that true anymore. She remembered the day her mother had left in a rush, her phone glued to her ear, sick with worry because the lab had been attacked by a sniper.  
"Well, for once, I won't worry too much for yours, not knowing where you are late at night." She said, making Mac chuckle.  
"Jo, she has a point. This lab is a safe place, Ellie won't leave it. You know that. What's more, if she's no good at work, which I doubt, or if she puts herself in danger, I'll fire her and bring her back to your place in a police car, all sirens on."  
Ellie was dumbfounded to see her mother's shoulders drop and relax while listening to Mac. So Jo Danville could be reasoned by a living soul! Ellie smiled, and mouthed a 'thank you' to Mac before signing the papers on the corner of the desk. She had won the war.  
At the moment she put the pen down, Mac's phone rang. He took it out of his breast pocket and looked over at Jo after reading the text he had received.  
"It's Don. We've got a crime scene. I'm taking you with me." He said. Then, he turned to Ellie.  
"Find Adam, tell him he has to take your prints and a DNA sample. It's just in case you would compromise a piece of evidence by inattention. It happens sometimes, and it's better to be able to shed light on who's done what." He explained.  
Ellie nodded and they all left Jo's office. They had work to do.

**Later**

Jo was deep in thought, looking out through the window of the car. She couldn't feel angry with Mac for accepting Ellie's appliance for a two month internship. Actually, she had to admit to herself that she was glad to have her around. Her little girl was growing up fast, and when Jo thought that she was about to enter college, she wanted to cry her heart out. It was irrational, but she couldn't help thinking they wouldn't be as close as before now. Ellie would start dating boys, eventually she would meet the special one, marry, and have kids on her own. She would graduate, find a job, maybe in some faraway state, and she would have much less time for her old Ma.  
"Are you okay ?"  
She turned to Mac. She hadn't even realized she was sighing. She tried to put on her best smile, but failed. That alone was going on her nerves. Ever since Mac had asked her to mind her own business, she had tried to keep her distances and build a defensive shell around herself. After all, he was going to marry Christine, what was the point in sharing her deeper thoughts with him, apart from believing too much and diving too deep? She wasn't particularly keen on suffering from a heartbreak, she thought she was too old for that. Yet, Mac's caring gaze on her didn't leave a choice, and she mentally scolded herself for being so weak.  
"Yeah. No. God Mac, I don't know. My little girl is becoming a woman. I don't know how to cope with that."  
Mac focused back on the road while listening to her. But he didn't answer, and Jo felt he had nothing to say. He had never known what it felt like to be a parent. She thought she might not tease him about that. Surely he could imagine the joys of parenting a child, but could she really explain to him what hard times were like? She didn't know, it seemed cruel. She had to fill the silence. She couldn't stand it anymore.  
"I can still clearly remember her first day at school, you know? What it felt like to leave her in that rainy playground."  
She had Mac's attention, she could see it on his face. He had that faint smile he always had when she was complaining about something. He was even interested in what she had to say.  
"Gosh, I felt like abandoning her, really. She was so excited about going to school for the first time! One morning, I just took her and Tyler to school, and once in the car, I couldn't tear my eyes from the rear-view mirror to look at her. She smiled all the way long, and kept on kicking the back of my seat; she was so excited she couldn't stand still. When I left the school, she saw I was about to cry when I knelt down to kiss her. She took my face in her tiny hands and kissed me hard on the cheek, and then, she told me with an adorable childish voice- 'Don't cry mommy, I'll be back home before you know it.'. That's exactly what I told her when she was little and she didn't want me to go to work and leave her with her grandma or the nanny.".  
Jo stopped to breathe in, and saw that Mac was smiling now, openly so. That was such a rare view that she had to enjoy the moment.  
"She still cares about you." He stated, looking at her with what looked like tenderness in his eyes.  
Jo felt some tears threaten to roll down her cheeks. Maybe Mac didn't know anything about what she was feeling right now, but she could see he would do his best to make her feel better. She smiled to herself.  
"She was crying when she came back home that night."  
Mac frowned and turned left. They were approaching the crime scene.  
"Was school that bad?" He asked.  
"School, no. She was bullied. One of Tyler's classmates had told her she couldn't be my daughter because she did not have the same color of skin. He added that I must have found her in a thrash can."  
Jo winced at that thought. Ellie had been barely four that day when she had had to tell her the truth- she had been adopted. That was every child's worst nightmare. And Ellie had suffered from that, even though Jo had tried to soothe her pain with kisses and caresses, and let her sleep in her bed for an entire year after that, telling her every night that she was the best thing that had ever happened to her in a lifetime.  
Mac gritted his teeth while looking for a spot to park his Avalanche.

Jo chuckled.  
"I didn't have to do anything. Tyler had punched him in the face right on the spot. He was punished for that, but I couldn't be mad at him for defending his sister."  
Mac smiled again, cheerfully, and cut off the engine.  
Jo brushed her memories aside to focus on the task at hand. Flack suddenly appeared on Jo's side to open the door for her. She noticed his gaze wandering over to the back of the car.

Jo frowned.  
She asked with a teasing smile.  
Flack chuckled. He loved the way she pronounced the 'A's in Flack and Mac, making them longer and more open than they were when New Yorkers pronounced them  
"What's waiting for you inside is not a sight for suitable ladies." He answered, obviously trying to keep composed.  
Usually, Jo would have pretended to be offended by his comment, clearly implying that she was either not suitable, either not even a lady. She would have tapped his shoulder and passed him. Yet, he really looked pale. She nodded, went to take her kit in the trunk and followed Mac and Don in the building. They went up two flight of stairs and Jo saw an officer leaning on the wall, sweating heavily, as if he was going to throw up. She raised an eyebrow. They had seen everything, and nothing could surprise her anymore. At least, that's what she thought until they entered the small loft in which Sid was waiting for their approval to remove the body from the scene without compromising it. Jo's legs weakened and she knew she was about to throw up whatever was left of her breakfast in her stomach.

**Penny for your thoughts?**


	4. Finger painting

**Hello y'all! :) Here's the fourth chapter! As usual, a huge thanks to those of you who reviewed the last chapter ;) You're the best girls!** **I hope you won't be disappointed for waiting :)**

"Why isn't the ink black?" Ellie asked when Adam took her index finger to press it in a yellowish ink pad.

"Cause there's no ink at all." Adam answered. He rolled her finger in the pad, placed it on the label he had stuck on one of the special prints sheets he had in store, and pressed hard. Then, he let Ellie look at the print which appeared instantaneously on the paper.

"Wow! Chemical reaction!" She exclaimed as enthusiastically as if she had been a toddler seeing Santa on Christmas Eve. Adam smiled and took the following finger. They weren't done yet.

"Gallic acid reacting to ferric chloride. Like what you see?"

Ellie knew about those kind of reactions, however, she felt like a child waiting for a magic trick each time Adam pressed her finger on the paper. And truth be told, it was even better than the straw she had cried for in the shop a few years back; that straw which was turning red when she was drinking hot chocolate with it.

"That's awesome! I want one of those."

She looked at her fingers to see that there was no trace of ink on it. She smiled a little, nostalgia suddenly rising. It reminded her of the time she and Tyler used to take their own prints, playing cops and robbers together, pretending to be FBI agents, just like their parents were. Jo would scream her head off finding little prints everywhere on the walls and furniture. Once, she had thrown the ink away to save their apartment, and she had refused to buy another pad. When Tyler had come back home after a weekend at his father's place, bringing a full set of colored ink pads, a huge fight had exploded between Jo and Russ. They had stopped playing with ink soon afterwards, feeling responsible for the adults' quarrels. Yet, the prints had stayed on the walls for years, and they had had a hard time removing them when they had moved out. Ellie had even tried to remove some from the furniture, in vain. Jo had smiled at her stubbornness- 'Leave it sweetie. I kinda like having my kids' little fingers everywhere on my coffee table. Reminds me of how little and cute you two were back then.'.

Ellie shook her head. It seemed like centuries ago. She and Tyler were not that close anymore, and she was no longer five.  
"Yeah and you don't have to wash your fingers after that. And you can't leave inky prints on my cheeks." Adam said with a proud smile, as if he had won an argument.

Ellie raised an eyebrow. Sometimes, having a conversation with this guy could feel exactly as reading a surrealistic book- stupefying.

"Okay, you lost me. Say that again?"

Adam looked embarrassed for a split second, then he explained himself.

"In-joke. Jo did just that on her first day here. I spent the day with her prints right there." He reproduced Jo's move, taking his own face between his thumb and his index in a ridiculous attempt to imitate her.

"Got it. She traumatized you." Ellie joked.

She wasn't surprise to see Adam blush. She could tell by the way he talked about Jo and the way he looked at her that he was under her spell. There was something cute about that. He was like a school boy attracted to the Spanish teacher. Ellie even had to admit she found that endearing, even if Adam's crush was her own mother. He began to stammer again.

"Y-yeah. I mean- She can be such a turn on sometimes." He sighed while turning his back to Ellie to scan her prints, hiding his reddened face.

Ellie didn't really know what to answer. Of course, she found her mother beautiful, but she had never seen her as anything else as a mother. It had always been shocking to stumble on her kissing with a man, because Ellie couldn't really picture her as a woman with her own needs. It had begun to change that time when Jo had caught her up kissing Jordan in the kitchen. Seeing her bra through her open shirt, her hair tousled, her lips swelled, and her gun pointed on her, with a bare-chested man by her side, had come as an electrifying shock- Both the mother and the daughter actually dated boys. Both were women. A turn-on? Ellie couldn't say. But yeah, she had to admit she had quite some charm.

"I probably shouldn't be talking about your mother that way with you." Adam affirmed, breaking the silence that was certainly hard for him to bear after what he had told Ellie. She smiled and looked over his shoulder as the scanner worked.

"That's okay. She never stops talking about you, I guess it's only fair." She said, trying desperately to hide a wicked smile.

Adam turned his head when he realized what Ellie was saying.  
"Really?!"

Ellie succeeded in looking dead serious just enough time to enjoy Adam's baffled face, then she couldn't take it anymore, and she burst out laughing. He was so easy to trick!

"Oh, okay, I got it. You Danville are terrible."  
Ellie joined her hands behind her back and kept on smiling while Adam was saving her set of prints in the database of the CSI, shaking his head, and chuckling uneasily.

After a moment, Adam turned to Ellie.  
"I will need a DNA sample too. You've got the choice. I can tear one of your hair off, or you can spit in a lab tube." He explained with a cheeky smile.  
Ellie laughed.  
"Yeah, or we could use one of your kits. You know the ones with this lovely thing you put in your mouth like a doctor?" She answered.  
The tech shrugged, opened a drawer and took out a DNA test.  
"You're not funny, and you know too much."

Meanwhile

Once Jo had thrown up all she could, bending over a toilet seat that had obviously already seen vomit earlier, she freshened up and went back to the main room.  
"Are you okay?" Sid asked, putting his hand on her shoulder in a way Jo found soothing. She forced a smile before answering.

"I'll be okay eventually, when we find who did that to this poor boy."

She stared at the victim, feeling upset. She guessed he was not much older than Tyler, and he was as handsome as him. But he was dead now, and his body was spread out on his blood-soaked bed, completely naked, his manhood missing, neatly cut. Jo felt sick to her stomach. This young man had a mother somewhere, and her life would be turned upside down after learning what had become of her beloved son. Jo was a mother too, and she was determined to catch the killer, put him behind bars, then take Tyler out for diner to remind him how much she loved him.

"I'll take the bed. You, check the lock on the door to see if it was forced, and search the place for hints. This crime is personal- We'll find the name of the psycho who did that somewhere in this apartment."

Jo nodded to Mac. He was right. And he seemed to know what she was thinking. She felt grateful to him for assigning her tasks that would avoid her having eye-contact with the lifeless body.

She took her kit that she had left at the door and put on latex gloves to process the crime scene.  
As she was examining the lock, Don passed her on his way back from interrogating the neighbors.

"The woman who found him is paid to clean up this place once a week, that is, every Monday. As there was no one there last Monday, it leaves us with a seven day window."  
Jo looked over at Sid who was bent on the body.

"I'd say he's been in this state for two days at most." He stated.

"The neighbors didn't really know the vic, never talked to him, but they told me he was a social butterfly. He was never alone here, and the old lady next door complained a few times about the noise. She's as deaf as a post, but she could still hear a lot of what happened in that bed."

They all shared surprised glances, and Mac showed Don his tweezers.

"That explains why I found so much hairs, from a lot of different donors. If we're lucky, some of them will strike a match in our database."

Jo stood up from her crouching position, and felt Don's gaze on her, waiting for her verdict.  
"There's no trace of a break-in. He knew his killer. He may even have invited him to spend the night. That's dreadful, you can't trust anyone these days."  
Sid nodded.

"Trust is the word. I can't see any defensive wound. As if this poor boy had lain there watching his genitals being cut off without moving." He said.  
Don looked at the medical examiner, incredulous. He opened his mouth, but the sound didn't come out. He closed his mouth and tried again.

"You're telling us he was alive when-" He began.

"Yes. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so much blood here." Sid explained.

"Okay, now I'm gonna throw up."

Jo moved on to the chest of drawers on the wall opposite the bed. There was nothing on it besides books. She examined them for a moment. They were all about psychology, and she had read most of them. No doubt the victim had been a student in that field. Then she opened the top drawer and froze. There were boxes of condoms neatly stacked, lots of them, of all sizes, all perfumes and all colors. She frowned. She was quite sure she had not used as many condoms as there was there in all her fifty-two years of life.

"What is it Jo? You look as if you'd seen a ghost."

The woman turned to Don and her eyes narrowed.

"What size of condoms do you buy?"

Don was taken aback. He looked at Jo in dismay.

"Err, you know I've got a girlfriend, right?" He asked.

Jo rolled her eyes and took two boxes out of the drawer to show him what she had discovered.

"I'm trying to understand why a young man would buy different sizes of condoms."

Don frowned.

"I'm not sure I want to know. What's in the next drawer?"

Jo closed the top drawer and opened the next one. She stared agape at a huge collection of sex-toys. She quickly closed the drawer and looked at Don and Mac who were both waiting to know what she had found.

"He was what, twenty-six? Believe me, he experienced far more things than I ever did."

The two men exchanged a surprised look and focused on her again, waiting for details.

"This drawer is filled with toys. How could he even buy so much of them whereas he was only a student?"

Jo saw Mac wince in embarrassment, looking away. He had got used to the way she could talk freely about themes such as sex with the team, and sometimes, he had even joined in the conversations. But since he had been with Christine, he was far less open to those things with Jo, he was uneasy again, as if they were strangers.

"Gap of generations Jo. Young people are not the same as twenty years ago." Don sighed.

His remark made her smile a bit. She had been in her thirties, twenty years before. It was nice of him to make her feel younger. Just when she was going to open the third drawer, dreading what was inside, her phone rang. She took it out of her back pocket and looked at the ID of the caller. When she saw the words written on the screen- 'Ex-Husband', she frowned, and rejected the call. _'Talking about sex'_, she thought.

**Penny for your thougths ? :)**


	5. Holding hands

**Hi! I'm back! Sorry for the delay, I'm suffering from a defective internet connection :'( **  
**Hope you won't be disappointed ;) **  
**Enjoy!**

"I don't think Ellie should be on this case." Jo said while the whole team was taking seats around the meeting table.

Ellie frowned. Usually, she would already have jumped to her feet to argue with her mother. However, she could see an unusual paleness on Jo's face. By the look of things, it seemed to be some nasty case.

Mac stared at her, looking as if he was considering asking her to leave the room where the grown-ups were chatting to go and play in her room.

"I don't know Jo, we need all men on deck for this one. She won't need to see the body nor to go down to the precinct, but she could help process the DNA samples I collected."

Ellie saw her mom bit her lip. She was about to give in.

"Okay. But Ellie, if you want to go out at some point while we take a look at the photos, do it. We won't force you to do anything you don't wanna do."

She nodded.

"It's okay mom. I signed for this."

Jo sat down next to her and opened her notebook. Don stood at the end of the table and showed the photos of the victim on the big screen.  
Ellie felt her stomach protest. She had never seen anything as disgusting as that. She winced.

"Let me introduce you to Fitz Henry, twenty-five. As you can see, he was robbed as well as killed."

Sheldon interrupted Don.

"You mean he bled to death after someone cut his-" He hesitated and glanced at Ellie. "What he had between his legs?"

On her right, Ellie sensed Danny tense, but he said nothing. On the other side of the table, on the contrary, Adam's face had turned a greenish shade.

"Does anyone here also wanna puke?" He asked.

"One of your bosses already did." Don said.

Ellie saw Adam's gaze fall on Mac who smiled slightly while discreetly pointing his finger at Jo. She was amazed at how the team could still make fun of one another even when working on such a dreadful case.

"Okay, what do we know?" Lindsay inquired, obviously looking forward to closing this case and moving on to another one.

"He was a student in psychology, and he spent his time taking girls back home to enjoy the nights. We didn't find his family jewels nor the weapon that was used to cut them on the crime scene." Don summed up.

"Maybe he slept with the wrong girl. I mean, some of you girls can be so jealous sometimes." Danny proposed, earning a kick from Lindsay under the table.

"Jealousy is a good motive." Mac agreed. "We brought his laptop and phone back. Adam, I want you to check his emails, personal files, see if we can get names."

Adam took the laptop that was in the middle of the table and caressed it. Ellie guessed he was happy to be assigned to something he was good at, and above all, to something that did not involve talking about how the victim had been killed.

Ellie took a second look at the photo. Somehow, the kind of injuries rang a bell in her mind.

"It reminds me of a presentation a guy made to my class." She suddenly said.

All the eyes were on her, and she went on, happy to be of some help.

"At the end of the nineteenth century, five little boys who worked as prostitutes for men were killed in the same way, and their genitals were found in their mouths. The killer was proved to be homophobic."

Mac raised an eyebrow, looking both impressed and intrigued.

"What did that school teach you?!" Jo cried out, seemingly impressed, but not in a good way.

"The teacher asked for presentations about the history of New York. She didn't specify what was and wasn't history. Whatever, we don't care about that. Could this murder be hatred-related?"

Ellie was glad to see Jo write down the word 'hatred' in capital letters with a question mark on her notebook. Mac and the team seemed to ponder the idea.

"I'm afraid we'll have to wait for Sid's report to know more about this." Mac finally said. "Lindsay, can you go with Flack to see the family?".

Ellie guessed Mac wasn't used to asking whether his men wanted or not to do something. But Lindsay had given birth to a baby boy a few months before, so he wanted to be sure she was okay with telling another mother about how her son had died. She was a sensible choice for this mission, she would be able to comfort the poor parents.

The young mother nodded.

"Yeah." She rose from the table and left the room on Don's heels. Adam followed them with the laptop and the phone. He already knew what he had to do. Sheldon took his jacket, and announced he was going to help Sid.

"Jo, you take the DNA samples, Danny and Ellie will work with you."

Jo looked at Ellie, surprise showing all over her face.

"Yeah mom, I can process DNA, I trained on mine with Adam while you were out on the field."

A proud smile showed on Jo's face. It was the typical smile she would flash every time Ellie had come home from preschool with a noddle necklace for mother's day, or, more recently, whenever Ellie scored during a soccer game. She wondered if she was going to fling her arms around her for a motherly hug. '_Please don't do that mom_.', she thought. And she didn't.

"I have to meet with Christine for lunch to arrange a few things for the wedding. Call me if you find anything. I'll be back in less than two hours." Mac declared before rising from his seat to leave.

They all left the room, and Ellie followed her mother and Danny to the room opposite to Jo's office, where she guessed they would analyze the DNA samples.

"Does Mac usually leave y'all alone to close a case?" Ellie asked.

She was bewildered. She could still picture her mother hanging up from a conversation on her phone a few months before, looking at her, eyes wide open, as if she couldn't believe in what she had heard.

"_I won't be able to take a few weeks off in July to go and see your grandma." She had told Ellie with a disappointed smile. _

_"__Why?"_

"_Mac just asked me to take over the lab for two weeks. Come on! I have to kick the man's ass to make him go home for a two hour nap and a shower, and now he wants to go on a two week honeymoon?! This Christine sure does wonders!" _

_Ellie had smiled seeing Jo start as she burnt her tongue with boiling tea. _

_"__Easy mom, don't you dare kill yourself with that. If we can't see grandma in July, I guess I'll apply for July instead of August. That way, we'll be forced to spend some time together." _

_Jo had smiled at that. _

_"__I'll take three weeks off in September. August is a hard month for the lab, I'm gonna be needed. Anyway, if we can't see your grandma back in Alabama, then she will come and see us here in New York." She decided. _

_"__See? The matter is settled." Ellie had approved. _

_"__Yeah, but all the same, the bets are already on on how many days Mac will stand being away from work. I'd say four days, seven if he's out of town."_

That discussion had decided Ellie further in obtaining a two month internship. She desperately wanted her mom to have someone to take care of her and soothe the pain from her broken heart when she would see Mac back from his honeymoon, a gold band circling his finger.

And there she was, asking silly questions that would hurt Jo a little more. She mentally slapped herself.

Danny turned round, walking backwards to see both Danvilles as he answered Ellie's question. The young girl was staring at her mom's back. She hadn't flinched even a bit when Mac had announced he was leaving the lab to go have lunch with his fiancée, nor had she reacted to Ellie's question. She had her shell on, Ellie knew.

"Last time he did, it was to save your ma's butt. Not that she really needed help, considering how she shot the bastard."

The teenage girl saw Jo's jaw tighten up and she understood instantaneously Danny was talking about John Curtis. Ellie didn't know much about that case, except that moving to New York was the result of her mother taking a decision about it. She had rarely seen her mother cry much. The only times she could remember her crying her eyes out were when auntie Leanne had died, when she had had to explain Ellie who her biological mother really was, and that time when Mac had brought her home and spent the night with her.

_She had heard the key turning into the lock. Ellie had come back from school barely an hour before, and she dreaded the moment she would have to tell her mother she had got a D in maths. Surely Jo could not be angry with her when she herself abhorred maths, right? _

_She stood up from the couch when she heard Mac's voice. He had come to visit a few times before, but Jo had always told Ellie about it. It couldn't be a good sign, something had happened. Then she had seen Jo's face, bruised and pale, with cuts here and there. She seemed crestfallen, and she had tears in her eyes. _

_"__Gosh Mom! What happened?!" _

_Mac had helped Jo down on the couch and announced he would make tea. Jo had burst into tears. _

_She hadn't say much things, besides telling Ellie that she loved her. Mac had not talked much either. They had sat in silence in the living room, and somehow, Ellie had felt a strange sense of family. _

_Her mother had suddenly felt the need to talk once Ellie was out of earshot- or so she had thought, cause Ellie had learned a lot about her mother that night. _

Danny made a fist and punched Jo's shoulder in a playful, familiar way.

"Tough girl we got here."

Jo smiled and she put her lab coat on.

"Enough chatting, what about analyzing all those samples?"

It wasn't a question, it was an order, put in a nice way. Jo was annoyed, but she wasn't going to let it show. Danny must have seen it, as he felt the urge to lighten the mood.

"Yeah. But you won't get this idea out of my mind- There must be something big going on about the wedding. I don't think Mac is really the type of man who chooses the kind of flowers he want for the big day."

That made Jo chuckle. Ellie smiled. She couldn't imagine the head of the crime lab choosing flowers either. She put on her lab coat and took a pair of latex gloves. She had never put those things on before, and she was having troubles with putting the right finger in the right place.

Danny giggled and helped her.

"It's okay Ellie. It took your mother two complete weeks to master the art of putting latex gloves on." He said.

"I can hear you." Jo warned while she was already at work.

The next hour was made of carefully placing the hairs Mac had collected on the crime scene in lab tubes, adding a solution to dissolve the DNA, and putting the lab tubes in the centrifuge to wait for the DNA profiles to appear on the screens of the computers facing the team. Ellie loved that. She was doing her best, going slower than her colleagues to be sure she wasn't doing any mistake. And she was overly conscious of Jo's eyes,looking over her shoulders from time to time.

"I'm gonna make coffee. Want a drink?" Danny asked when they were done with their task, waiting for the results.

"I'm good, thanks." Jo answered, playing with one of her necklaces.

Danny looked expectantly at Ellie. She smiled.

"Green tea for me, please." She said, and Danny went out.

Jo turned to her, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"What?" Ellie asked, shrugging, making her brown curls jump.

"You won't taste our delicious coffee?" Jo asked teasingly.

Ellie's lips broke into a smile. And her face took a Jo-like expression.

"If you want good coffee, buy it. Otherwise, stick to green tea. Remember?"

Jo winked at her.

"You're a fast learner. Always been."

She circled Ellie's shoulder with her arm and kissed the top of her head.

"Mom!" The teenager protested.

"Awright!"

Just when Jo let her daughter go, Ellie glanced at the screen in front of her and stepped closer to it. There was a first DNA profile right under her eyes.

"Mom, you may wanna see that." She said, frowning.

"What?"

Ellie pointed at the little XY showing right under the profile.

"That's a male donor. And it has nothing in common with the comparative sample Mac took from the victim." She observed.

She turned her head towards Jo. She didn't look very surprised, Ellie realized. Did it even mean anything? She wondered.

"So our vic was sleeping with girls and boys." Jo concluded.

How could she be so blasé whereas Ellie found this information so exciting?

"So? It's likely to be an homophobic crime, right?" Ellie asked, fidgeting.

Jo shook her head, her long hair falling over her shoulders.

"We don't know that yet."

Ellie saw Adam's head pop through the open door. He looked proud of himself. She guessed that meant he had found something.

"Err, Jo? Do you have a minute? You won't believe your eyes."

Meanwhile, at the morgue :

"I'm so sorry Mac. I hope Christine and you won't hate me."

Mac smiled and put a hand on Sid's shoulder. He was sad, but his friend's health was coming first.

"Don't be, Sid. We talked it over with Christine. We already have an idea of who could replace you as my best man. Will you be okay?"

Mac had learned about Sid's illness a year before. At the time, he had felt betrayed for learning about his cancer long after Jo had, but now, he took it as a sign that he had to listen more closely to his friend's needs. He had spent six months recovering from his trip to death, it seemed legitimate to be a bit out about what happened around him while he was dealing with the consequences of the shooting.  
Sid nodded.

"I promised Jo I would retire as soon as I felt sore. Today at the crime scene, I nearly fainted. My treatment is not working. I have to undergo a heavy chemotherapy. It might be too late for it to work, but I have to try, if not for me, at least I'll do it for Jo's sake."

Mac had never talked about Sid's state with Jo, but the medical examiner had told him she had been badly shaken when he had told her he was sick, and he believed it. Jo looked strong, but if you tugged at the heartstrings, you could break her in a heartbeat. He had seen it a few times.

"This is my last case. Oh Mac, I wish you had married two years ago when I could have been a healthy best man." Sid sighed.

Mac smiled a little. Sid's health had not altered his colorful personality.

"And may I ask you who I'd have married two years ago?" He inquired while Sid was putting his glasses on to examine the victim on his autopsy table. The ME shrugged.

"I lost twenty bucks betting on you and Jo." He admitted matter-of-factly.

Mac raised an eyebrow. He couldn't deny he had been attracted to Jo, and maybe it was still the case. After all, she had this charming thousand-candle smile and this singing twang that made everything she said delightful to the ear. And she was a sight for sore eyes, there was no denying it. But he had no feelings for her. Besides friendship, that was. Was there really a bet on them? Did she know that? He didn't answer.

"What did you learn about the victim?" He asked.

Sid sighed. He didn't like this case. Nobody did.

"I didn't have time to do much. He died last night, somewhere between 8pm and 5am. There's no bruise on his body, except some scars on his back, resulting from long nails during harsh lovemaking, judging by the angle. I hoped I would find traces on his wrists suggesting he had been tied to the bed or something, but there's no such evidence. And nothing suggests that he was dragged to the bed either."

"Are you telling me this poor boy really remained quiet while he was mutilated?"

Mac was lost. This torture was horrible, you couldn't just lay there while your genitals were being cut off from you, could you?

"I sent Hawkes back to the lab for a toxicological report. We should get something with that."

Mac nodded, it seemed highly impossible that the student might have been clean and sober when he had been killed, there would have been defensive wounds.

"Anything else?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. I think we can find the kind of weapon that was used to kill him." Sid paused and winced. He caught the bottle of water he had always around him because of the side effects of his treatment and gulped down half of the content of the bottle. He took some time to regain composure, wiped off the sweat from his forehead, and went on.

"I generated a 3D model of the wound, and printed it."

He took a plastic model from a drawer of his desk and handed it to Mac who turned it over to examine it. It looked exactly as the wound on the victim's body. It was amazing to see what you could do thanks to new technologies.

"Thanks Sid. I'll bring it back to the lab."

Sid nodded at him. He would miss chatting with him and Jo, working with the team and going out for a beer or two after the day was over. He sighed when Mac disappeared around the corner of the corridor. He was afraid of dying. He needed someone to hold his hand through hardships. He didn't need to worry about that though, as he knew Jo would be there for him, always.

**Penny for your thoughts ? :D**


	6. Teenage rebellion

**Hi y'all ! Thank you so much for your kind reviews :) You've no idea how much it means to me! Enjoy this sixth chapter, and don't hesitate to tell me what you think.**

"Wow, how many porns are there on this computer?" Danny asked, standing arms crossed behind Adam and Jo who were sitting on armchairs in front of Fitz Henry's laptop. *

"A lot." Adam answered, showing the extent of the file.

Ellie wondered what was going on in her mother's head. Jo had her index finger on her lips, and she knew it meant that she was trying hard to put the pieces of the puzzle together to see more clearly what could have happened to the victim. Jo was absorbed in reading the names of the videos.

"Oedipus, Stockholm..." She said. "Either porns helped him review his lessons, either he was directing the movies himself."  
Adam smiled at her.

"Boom. He's in the videos too."

Danny chuckled, and Ellie raised an eyebrow. Had Adam watched the porns he had found on the laptop? Adam seemed to read her thoughts, for he turned to Danny, his hands in the air.

"Hey, it was for the sake of the case. And I can tell you, these porns are boring. The vic staged psychotherapies explaining each syndromes. That's awkward and disturbing. I don't know who is troubled enough to buy those." He explained.

"But someone did. That's how he was earning money. Explains a lot." Jo stated, still looking directly at the screen.  
Adam closed the file and opened the victim's mailbox.

"You're right, Jo. He was corresponding with a guy named Aron McGregor, owner of a company and a chain of sex-shops called Sappho. McGregor bought his movies for a good price."

Jo's hand fell back on the desk, and she turned rather violently towards Adam. Ellie was surprised to see shock on her face. What could be shocking after all she had learned in a few hours?

"Sappho?!" She exclaimed.

Adam shrank towards Danny, as if he feared that his boss was going to bite him. Danny and Ellie shared a puzzled look.

"Err yeah, why? Is there a problem?"

"Damn right there is! Sappho has nothing to do with porn!"

Ellie couldn't understand why Jo was so pissed off. She rarely flew off the handle, but it seemed that she was about to do so in front of them, about a mere name for a sex-shop. Jo relaxed seeing her friends so baffled. She leaned back in her chair.

"Sappho was a Greek poetess. She's known as the first lesbian symbol as she wrote about the island of Lesbos and her love for women." She explained.

Ellie realized she had seen one of Sappho's book on a bookshelf in their living room. She tried to conceal a smile when Adam and Danny both looked at Jo, shock all over their faces. They obviously didn't know how open-minded Jo was.

"You mean you read her poetry?" Adam chocked.

Jo winked.

"You bet I did." She said enigmatically, with the hint of a smile playing on her lips.

Before anyone could add anything, Lindsay entered the room and sighed heavily, making everyone look at her.

"How did it go?" Danny asked, massaging one of her shoulders.

"Mrs. Henry is grief-stricken. She lost her husband two years ago. She's alone with her daughter now. Two weeks ago, Fitz announced he was engaged to a girl named Jenny. What have you got guys?"

Ellie frowned. Could it be possible? She certainly wouldn't marry a man shooting porns. Danny, Adam and Jo looked seemingly disturbed.

"That's strange. There's no mention of any Jenny in Fitz laptop or phone." Adam protested.

Lindsay raised an eyebrow and Jo explained what they knew.

"He was shooting porns for money, lots of them. He was bisexual, or so it seems." She looked expectantly at Adam to prove her point. He nodded.

"Yeah, he was."

"So you think he invented this story to hide his way of life to his mother?" Lindsay asked, unable to hide her disgust.

Ellie bit her lip. She thought hard. And Jo saw it.

"What is it Ellie?"

She looked at her mother and shrugged.

"I don't know, I don't think it possible to lie about a wedding. I mean, you can't just tell your mother you're gonna marry someone. There's to be a wedding, otherwise the lie doesn't work, does it?"

Jo looked to consider Ellie's idea.

"I mean, if I told you today I was engaged, you'd harass me with tons of questions and you'd wanna meet my fiancé. And you'd expect a wedding. It wouldn't be hard to say if I lie or not." She added.

Jo nodded.

"You're right. It doesn't add up. There's a Jenny somewhere. We gotta find her."

"We may find a DNA match to the hairs we collected in our database." Danny suggested before leaving the room to go and compare the profiles they had drawn to the database.

Jo looked at her watch. And Ellie felt her stomach groan. It was long past lunchtime, and they had not yet eaten.

"Have you eaten Lindsay?" Jo asked.

Lindsay nodded.

"I'm gonna help Danny."

With that, she left the room.

"So I guess it leaves me with the two young people here. Join me for lunch?"

Adam rose from his seat, happy to be released from duty for a lunch-break. Ellie thought fast. She was hungry, but she had things to do, things that she didn't want her mother to know about.

"Actually, Charlie is waiting for me. Can I go and grab a bite with him? I'll be back soon." Ellie pleaded. Jo looked at her, certainly surprised she hadn't told her anything about this sooner. But she didn't look suspicious. She flashed her one of her complicit smile.

"Okay, have fun." She singsonged while passing her on way to the break-room with Adam.

Ellie looked at the two of them walking down the hallway.

"Who's Charlie?" She heard Adam asked to her mother.

"Ellie's crush. Might be my future son-in-law." Jo answered with a playful voice.

Ellie waited till they were out of sight to make her way to Jo's office so as to take her bag. Her legs were shaky, and she was conscious it could give her away if her mom were to see her in that state. She focused on her breathing and calmed down. She was only going out to buy some food, but she felt as if she was betraying the woman that had raised her. She sighed. '_You're not even there yet._', she thought.

She took her bag and left the office. She was about to enter the elevator when Mac came out of it.

"Hey Ellie, what are you doing?"

Her heart sank. Mac could see through people nearly as well as Jo did. Would he be the one to discover her secret? She tried hard to remain composed.

"Going out for lunch. Is it okay with you?" She asked, her eyes full of hope.

Mac raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't have to wait so long, you know?"

She smiled, relieved. He didn't know anything.

"We found interesting things and we didn't have time to eat. You'd better ask Adam."

Mac nodded.

"Bon appétit" He said with a shadow of a smile on his face before heading for the break-room.

She stepped into the elevator, pressed the zero floor button and when the doors closed, she sighed again, letting steam off. She walked out of the building breathing more easily.

She crossed the road, walked a few blocks north, turned a corner and stopped when she saw the newsstand. She lined up behind the four old men chatting about politics and waited. When it was her turn, she asked for a local newspaper, looking over her shoulder, half-expecting her mother to to be following her. Of course, she wasn't. She gave three bucks to the agent, told her to keep the change, and entered the café on the corner of the street. She ordered a soda and a sandwich and sat in the far corner, where she couldn't be seen from the street.

She opened her folded newspaper directly to the want ads page, playing distractingly with the straw in her soda can. Ellie was eighteen, and she was about to become an undergraduate. Each time she was meeting some of her friends, all of them talked about how they were going to decorate their first apartment. Jo had not broached the subject, either because she had not thought about it, or because she didn't want Ellie to have a place of her own. Yet, the teenager wanted some independence. If Tyler had his own apartment, why couldn't she have one too?

She sighed. She still wasn't sure about all this, but her eyes darted from one ad to the other, and she took some pictures of the most interesting ones with her phone. Sometimes, she dreamed about the perfect apartment. It would be tidy, decorated with photos of her friends, and she would cook whatever she wanted to eat. There would also be a dressing room, full of whatever she wanted to wear. And she would be able to invite whoever she wanted to see, and she would make sure her friends could spend the night over.

She was interrupted in her deep-thinking when a tall coffee-skinned man with brown eyes tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hi. Are you knew in town?"

She looked around. Nearly all the tables were empty.

"Is it some kind of stupid pick-up line?" She asked, defiant.

To her utmost surprise, the man laughed.

"I'm sure I'm old enough to be your father." He answered, a big toothy smile spread on his face.

She studied him. He looked about forty. She smiled, he seemed friendly.

"No and yes." She said.

The man raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"No I'm not knew in town, and yes, you can sit down." After all, he was certainly looking for some company while he ate his sandwich, and she didn't mind him sitting at her table. He sat down in front of her and opened his can.

"So, I take it you're a student looking forward to leaving your parents."

She folded her paper and sighed.

"Yeah. Overprotective mom." She explained.

"Ah. You know what we say- a son grows up to be a man, a daughter will always be a daughter." The man quoted.

Ellie nodded. That was exactly what it was. Her brother was a man now, and Jo spent less and less time sticking her nose in his business, never mind what Tyler told Ellie, she could see it. Ellie had no such freedom. And after all, her grandmother still called Jo nearly everyday, making sure she was eating alright, sleeping fine and still had goat milk in her fridge. And worse- Jo did not seem to mind. She even displayed the love she had for her mother at work. Ellie had seen a sticky note on her computer screen, saying she had to 'call Ma'... In capital, bold letters, no less.

"What's your name anyway?"

"Brent, Brent Fahquarson." The said Brent extended his hand, and Ellie shook it.

"Nice to meet you Brent. I'm Ellie Danville."

Brent stared at her, and she saw he was surprised. She couldn't understand why, though.

"Ellie." He seemed to taste the name on his tongue and up on his lips. "My sister was called Ellie too."

"Was?"

Brent looked down.

"She died nineteen years ago, aged twenty. Overdose." He whispered.

Ellie bit her lip. She couldn't imagine losing Tyler, but again, she could not imagine him taking drugs either, so it would be hard for him to die from an overdose. Did Brent knew she was a drug-addict at that time? She was sad for him.

"I'm sorry." She said softly, touching lightly his hand.

He forced a smile and looked at her in the eyes.

"That's what you get from having an overprotective mom sometimes."

Ellie frowned. How could an overprotective mother let her daughter drug herself? Jo certainly wouldn't, and Ellie was quite certain she would discover it if Ellie did that. She had a sixth sense, she read in people's mind. It was both scaring and annoying. She felt weird. An overdose- it could have happened to her biological mother, she could have died from that too. In that case, who would have adopted her?

Not Jo, she wouldn't even have heard about that. She was damn lucky. A few years ago, when Jo had told Ellie the truth about her true mother, there had been tears in her greenish eyes. Ellie knew it had been painful to break her girlish beliefs.

Brent must have seen her bafflement, for he explained what he meant.

"Our mother was trying to control our all lives. One day, Ellie took a bag with her things in it and left home. We both rebelled against the divine power of our mother. She wanted us to go to college and work hard to have a better future. We both ended up in the streets. If it wasn't for Ellie's death, I would still be there. But her death put me back on the right path. I can't say I have the best job in the world, but I own a grocery shop, and it's fine by me. That's my life, and I kinda like it that way, you know? I'm free." He smiled.

Ellie nodded. It made sense.

"My mother has nothing to do with my wanting to go to college. But she's always watching over my shoulder. I'm eighteen! I know what I do. Know what? She still insists on tucking me into bed."Ellie sighed. Now she was angry. Maybe she had to get herself out of the nest and fly away to discover the world. That's what she was trying to do.

"Only child?" Brent asked, leaning back in his chair.

Ellie shook her head energetically.

"No. Got a big brother. But I'm adopted."

"Oh. On what grounds?"

Ellie wondered if she really ought to tell Brent about her biological mother and all. But she looked intently at him. He was genuinely interested. He quickly raised his hands.

"If you don't mind telling me."

She tilted her head to one side, and stared at her hands- they were shacking. She told him about how Jo had found her. Nearly an hour passed, and having chatted for a long while, Ellie decided she had to go back to the lab. Her break was over.

"I must go back to work. It was nice talking to you."

Brent took a notebook out of his breast pocket, tore one of the pages and wrote down his phone number and name on it. Then he handed the piece of paper to the young girl.

"Call me if you ever need anything."

Ellie smiled at him and stuck the paper in her handbag.

"I will."

She went out, threw the newspaper she had bought before in a trash can, and made her way back to the crime lab.

* * *

"Jo, your phone is ringing, again." Lindsay said, looking annoyed, when her colleague entered their shared office.

Jo frowned and walked to her desk. She had to move a pile of files and folders from above her phone to look at the ID of the caller. When she saw the well-known mobile number, she rolled her eyes, and wondered if she really had to answer. She decided not to when the pile she had just pushed to the far corner of the desk slipped, collapsed and fell to the floor in a rustle of flying papers. Jo tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear and crouched to tidy her mess.

"You don't answer?"

"No. If it was important, he'd leave a message."

"He?"

Jo looked straight at Lindsay.

"Ex-husband." she said bluntly.

A grin crept up on Lindsay's face.

"Oh, you mean, the sexy man who is head over heels about you? The one who would run to the edge of the world to get you back?"

Jo threw her files in the middle of her desk, and the ringing stopped abruptly. There was no denying that Russ was a handsome, strong man, and he certainly still wanted her back. She was sometimes tempted to fall right back into his waiting arms, now that all hopes of a future with Mac were gone with the wind. But time had passed since their divorce, and Jo had learned that some people never change. She wouldn't sleep with him again, and he had to cope with that. Would Russ take a plane to come and see her if she made a point of not picking up his calls? She had absolutely no wish to see him cross her threshold, but a bit of experimentation was rather tempting.

Her life in Washington was over, her two kids were going to college, and she had no wish to leave New York. Jo had a lot of friends there, she had a nice apartment she had decorated with a nice southern taste, and her work was satisfying.

She was about to come up with a cheeky answer for Lindsay when Ellie entered the office. She looked happy, and to Jo's stupefaction, she looked womanly.

"How was lunch with Charlie?" She asked.

Ellie looked taken aback, and she kept on avoiding looking into Jo's eyes.

"Fine. Anything new on the case?"

Her vague answer was unusually unsatisfying, and Jo was disappointed to see that she didn't want to talk about it.

They used to share their secrets, not to avoid each other's questions. Jo wondered if maybe she had kissed the guy. That was usually at that point when she tended to shrink from her inquirers. She smiled- Ellie would tell her eventually. If not, Jo would have to display her detective's skills and tricks to get information from her.

"Mac is back from the morgue. He's brought a 3D print of the wound inflicted to our victim. He's tryin' to find out what kind of weapon was used to kill him." Jo explained.

Ellie threw her bag under her mother's desk.

"Sounds interesting. What about our DNA profiles?"

"Danny's still working on that. And Adam is running a facial recognition on the videos he found. There may be someone on those tapes who was oblivious to the fact they would end up seen on the Internet in an embarrassing position." Lindsay completed.

"What shall I do?"

Jo looked at her daughter. She craved action. She wanted to be useful, and she was obviously more enthusiastic than anyone else working there. Jo felt pride rush through her veins. She was this beautiful girl's mama.

"Dunno. Adam will tell you. He's the one to supervise you."

Ellie nodded and left the room in a hurry, looking relieved to escape her mother's gaze. Jo frowned. There was something she didn't know, and the idea crossed her mind that, maybe, she'd rather not know.

**Penny for your thoughts? :)**


End file.
